We got up early this morning to get ready to leave the Lake and return to our schools but also to catch the beautiful sunrise over Lake Malawi.  The pupils from both schools all sat in a boat on the beach waiting for it.  It was a spectacular sight.

At breakfast, we were joined by some monkeys on the patio of the lodge’s dining room!

We headed back to Nkhamenya Girls’ school first to drop the girls off.  We were given lunch followed by presentation of gifts from the school.  The girls presented a gift to Sister Theresa to thank her for the wonderful hospitality.

The boys and our 3 staff headed back up to St John Bosco for the last time.  Stephen finally got his suitcase which had been collected by the school on Friday afternoon (after we had left for the Lake).

We went to see Sister Jacintha to present her with money from the school and from St Joseph’s parish in Cumbernauld.  She was really delighted and said that the money would make a huge difference to the girls in the hostel.  Sister said she would use some of the money to buy curtains for the hostel to give the girls some privacy.  She also planned to use some of it to help with paying afternoon school classes for the poorest girls.

Then finally we headed into St John Bosco to meet the boys one last time.  We showed them the Happy DVD which they really enjoyed!  Then our boys gave a presentation teaching the boys some Glasgow slang.  This included:  eejit, upty, scran, maw and others!!!!  It was really funny.  We ended our presentation with Mr Maxwell leading us in song.  We taught them a really funny song that Mr Maxwell knows with lots of funny actions.  The boys loved joining in.

Then it was a case of saying our final goodbyes.  We met with the Head Teacher to give him our donation of £5,000 towards starting the project to pump running water into the school shower blocks and toilets.  The Head Teacher was most grateful and we promised to work hard to get the remaining £8,000 next session.  I hope all of our pupils, staff, parents, families and friends will work together to make achieve this target.

We leave early tomorrow morning (Tuesday) for the airport and will arrive back in Scotland 26 hours later.  Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

We headed down to see the girls at Nkhamenya on Friday morning.  Our girls and the girls from St Maurice’s showed the boys around.  Meanwhile Sister Theresa took the teachers for a tour of the school.  We visited classrooms to say hello to the girls, we saw where the chickens were reared, the food monitor (a Form 4 pupil) took us into the maize storage area and we saw the bricks that had been produced by the school in preparation for the building of a new visitor block.  The school and staff work hard to generate income to improve the school’s facilities.  It was wonderful to see the investments made by the school following support from St Maurice’s over recent years.

We then visited the hospital in Nkhamenya.  Sister Margaret Mary took us into a few wards, including the childrens’ ward.  In a small room off the main ward, there were 3 young children who were very ill with malaria.  It was very difficult to witness.  Mr Sutherland presented money to the hospital.

After lunch, we headed over to the East Coast of Malawi to visit Lake Malawi.  We drove through a National Park – but didn’t see any wildlife along the way!  Three and a half hours later we arrived in Nkhota Nkhota.  It was very dark but the moon was bright and we could see a shimmering Lake Malawi.  The next day we went on a walking safari about an hour and a half’s drive away.  Unfortunately, it was late afternoon when we went so most of the animals were hiding away from view. We did manage to see the heads of two crocodiles swimming in the river.

Over the rest of Saturday and Sunday we relaxed around the lodge, soaking up the sunshine – it was very hot!  We took a walk along the beach to the nearby pottery shop.  We also visited a nearby village for a short while to see the tree where David Livingston made the agreement to end the slave trade.  On Sunday evening, a local music group visited the lodge to provide music during dinner.  After dinner everyone was up dancing with them.  It was a great end to our visit to the Lake.  Early start Monday in order to be back to our schools by afternoon.

On Wednesday we went to Mass at 6.30 am.  The Mass was said in English by Father Paul and Marc did the reading.  It was a beautiful Mass with the Sisters from the convent and some of the local community present.  Boys from St John Bosco sang throughout.

We took toys, stationery etc to Katete Boys’ primary along with money donated by our Primary Schools.  The school were really pleased and said that they would be able to afford the resources needed to set up a library.

We visited the hostel for girls that Sister Jacintha runs.  She showed us the facilities and explained her plans for developing the hostel further.  The girls who live in the hostel are too poor to attend secondary school.  They are assisted to attend afternoon classes at the Open School.  Some of them have no parents so find it very difficult to get an education.  Sister has provided beds for them and gives them meals.

Hi everyone.  We have been busy over the last few days here in Malawi.  We have been visiting classes, teaching classes and chatting with staff and the boys of St John Bosco.  The boys continue to be an inspiration for us – their motivation and work rate is superb!  Each night, they have turned up for extra study classes in Art and Computing.

Mr Mwalilino, the Head Teacher, took us round the areas of the school that were improved as a result of the money we gave last year.  The school fixed broken windows and painted walls in all the dormitories.  They also painted the assembly hall and lecture theatre.  The difference is clear to see.

Mrs Connelly took the books that had been donated to the school and gave them to the librarian.  She was delighted and said the boys would really enjoy them as the fiction books they had were very old.

We had a look round the old shower and toilet block.  They have had no running water for a number of years.  The conditions were very bad.  The boys have to wash from the cold water tap in the field.  They have to use latrines at the back of the school buildings.

At Assembly we showed the boys some of the gifts we had brought.  Mr Maxwell showed them the set of strips for the football team and they all started cheering!  We told them about the extra sports tops, clothes and stationery we had brought.  They were very happy and gave a huge round of applause.  At assembly, as usual, the boys led the singing and prayers – they did not have to be asked or reminded.

Miss Felvus taught Art for 3 periods to boys from Form 1 (S1).  She offered to come back at night during study time from 6 pm until 8 pm.  We thought maybe no-one would turn up but 28 were waiting for her when she arrived – with more newcomers asking if they could join in.  They worked in silence, concentrating totally on their drawings.  They don’t get any Art in school at all – so they were really keen.  Some of the boys were extremely talented.  At the end, they had to be forced out of the door!  Jonathan helped with the classes throughout the day.

Mr Maxwell taught 3 History lessons today – on the Battle of Stirling Bridge and World War II.  He took them to the computing classroom so that he could use the projector to show them some of Braveheart – so that they could see what battle was like.  Some of the pupils were a bit shocked at it!  The boys were really interested in the lessons and asked very good questions, in between laughing at Mr Maxwell’s jokes.  It was good to see Mr Maxwell happy again – he had been crying the day before when he found a spider in his room.

Mrs Connelly did the school’s please takes for the day (ha ha ha!)  She actually just helped set up the ICT equipment.  The computer room has changed enormously since last year – there are 17 computers now – most with flat screens – although some are not working too well and they are all second hand of course.  The room has been painted and they still have the Scotland flag we left last year.  Mrs Connelly and Stephen visited a Maths class then answered lots of questions about life in Scotland.

In the evening, Mrs Connelly managed to finally get internet access and was able to send information and pictures back to Scotland via email.

We all went to 10 am Mass today at the church in Katete – St Theresa’s.  At the start of Mass Father Paul asked us to come out to the front of the church and he introduced us one by one.  The Mass was very long – 2 and a half hours!!!  But it was a wonderful experience – there was lots of singing and dancing by the choir who were superb!

Right at the end, Mrs Connelly was invited to speak to the congregation.  She started by telling them that in Scotland, when someone gets up to speak at the end of Mass, the congregation groans!

In the afternoon, we opened our 10 suitcases full of gifts and donations and sorted them into different destinations – St John Bosco High, the girls’ primary school, the boys’ primary school, the hospital and the girls’ hostel.  It was great to see so many things we had to give.

The weather on Saturday and Sunday was pretty rubbish – grey skies, cold, windy – just like Scotland in fact!  All the locals were asking us if we had brought the weather over!  On Sunday afternoon, things brightened up a little.  Sister Jacintha came to visit us.

We headed to bed early as the alarm would be going off at 5.30 am to give us time to get ready for Assembly at 7 am!

Today has been our first full day in Malawi.  After a long lie and breakfast, we took a walk round the village to see the primary schools and local hospital.  We met a couple from the UK who were touring Malawi by bike.  The man was a Physics teacher who had taken a year out from his teaching job in the East of Scotland to teach in Zambia.  His wife was a doctor who was working in a hospital in Zambia.  They were spending their holiday time touring around.

After lunch, we went over to the high school for a special assembly.  Even though it is Saturday today, the school thought it would be good to introduce us formally to the pupils.  The choir sang a song and were excellent!  Then one of the pupils said the reading and explained the meaning behind it.  Our staff were introduced to the pupils and each of our pupils had to stand up and introduce themselves.  When Jonathan stood up, they all started cheering before he spoke – just because they were impressed with how tall he was!!!!  Mrs Connelly gave a speech telling the pupils how pleased we were to be back in St John Bosco.

After the assembly, a staff v football match took place.  Of course, Mr Maxwell invited himself onto the staff team!  Stephen and Marc joined in too, whilst Jonathan was asked loads of questions about Scotland by the spectators!  The match finished 1-1.  After dinner we all met up in the Priests’ house to play cards.

Tomorrow we will go to Mass at 10 am and will then begin to plan for our week in the school.  Don’t know how good the internet access will be but hope to post more soon.

The 2014 trip to Malawi has begun! We set off for Glasgow airport at 2 pm. We flew to Amsterdam then headed straight for the next gate flying overnight to Nairobi, Kenya.

The pupils were impressed with the electronic entertainment on the plane – movies, games and quizzes! We arrived in Nairobi at 6.30 am and after a 2 hour wait, headed for the final flight – from Nairobi to Lilongwe, rather unexpectedly it was via Harare in Zimbabwe! When we arrived, all but one of our 20 cases arrived – unfortunately for Stephen, his personal case was the missing one!!

There to meet us at the airport were Mr Mwalilino, Head Teacher of St John Bosco and Sister Therese, Head Teacher of Nkhamenya Girls’ High School, along with staff from each school. They took us to a nearby restaurant for something to eat and then we headed up to the two schools in the minibus – a 3 hour drive! So by time we arrived in Nkhamenya we were shattered – but what a welcome awaited us. The girls were waiting and surrounded the bus singing clapping and cheering. We were swamped as we got off the bus, with every pupil keen to welcome us with shakes of the hand and hugs.

The girls then gathered around the staff visitor building and sung us a welcome song. Then they sung to us the Our Father which was just beautiful and very moving. The whole group were stunned with the welcome. We had supper then said goodbye to our girls Clare, Rachael, Lucy and Alice, who were staying on there with girls and staff from St Maurice’s. We headed on to St John Bosco, a 35 minute drive away. It was very late by then so we headed straight for our accommodation – Mr Maxwell and the boys at the guest chalets in the Priests’ accommodation and Miss Felvus and myself (Mrs Connelly!) at the Head Teacher’s house

We head to Malawi tomorrow afternoon. We are taking 10 suitcases of resources to give to the schools we are visiting, including our partner school, St John Bosco High. The resources were donated during Advent last year. Thanks to all those who donated!